Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Here is more detail on the chassis.

LHS was selling the Cup Racer for just over 300 when I bought it earlier this year. That's quite a bit more than an M-06, and the HPI kit does not even come with motor or ESC.

But it is still worth the money, because it is certainly a class above the normal M-05 and M-06. It comes with the wonderfully detailed Datsun 510 body. It is highly configurable, 4WD, metal drive train, oil shocks, CVDs all around. Unlike the Tamiya kits you don't feel the need to upgrade anything right away.

It can be built with 210mm and 225mm wheel base. The front shocks can either be normal stand-up shocks, or laid flat for low nose bodies -- like the Lancia Stratos that I have (not painted yet) and which was the reason I got this kit in the first place.

Ours is built with rear-wheel drive only -- I simply didn't mount the propeller shaft and the front CVDs -- to match the scale bodies we are using on this chassis: Porsche 911, Lancia Stratos and Renault Alpine A110 (Tamiya).

The chassis is made from an FRP lower and upper deck. The suspension is fully adjustable; toe, camber, ... the lot. The servo saver is integrated in the steering rack and works -- unless the one supplied with the M-05/6.

There are in total 7 (!) different body mount options, three for the front and four for the rear. One of them fits the pre-drilled Tamiya 210mm M bodies perfectly.

The wheel offset front and rear can be adjusted by using different wheel hex and shims that come with the kit, from 0 to 7mm in 1mm increments. The different HPI bodies require different offsets, for example the Porsche 911 requires front 0 and rear 6mm offset.

The kit is very easy to build. Everything goes together very easily and fits extremely well. Hex screws all around too, so no stripped screw heads.

The drive train is mostly metals, except for the outdrives which are a special hard plastic. The rear has a ball diff, the front has a gear diff with a limited slip option.

The oil shocks are plastic but they feel really great. They are thinner than the Tamiya M shocks, the shock shaft is only 2mm. This made assembly quite fiddly.

The Turnigy 4200 LiPo that fits the M cars also fits here, but one needs to supply their own battery straps. The kit comes with plastic mounts for NiMh sized packs.

Compared to the M-06 the chassis is very narrow. It is also lighter:M-06: 1.275kgCup Racer: 1.125 kg(both with same battery and electronics).

The default gearing is 5.28:1 and faster than Tamiya M at 5.8:1. And from there the gearing only goes up (faster). It seems that the Cup Racer is designed to run on long-winded 10th scale track, rather than on twisty M-chassis tracks.

The Porsche body is very nice in terms of scale, but not as good as the Datsun 510. It feels very flimsy. The kit comes with the same plastic accessory sprue with mirrors, wipers etc as the Datsun, but rather in black than in chrome.

The body comes with two large sheets of stickers: one for the race version, one for the road car version. Unfortunately due to the large size the stickers got damaged in storage and transport. That is not an issue if you get the body with the kit, where the stickers lie flat on the bottom of the box.

Like all HPI bodies the rear section is a separate piece that needs to be stuck on with double-sided tape after painting. Not the most durable solution I recon. But on the plus side you don't have the mould separation lines that the Tamiya single-piece bodies have.

The rear section also serves as light bucket for the rear lights.

The light buckets on the front are just some Lexan pieces.

Bottom line: It was an absolute pleasure to build this kit. If you are looking for something a step up from an M-05/6 you can't go wrong with the HPI. Can't wait to get the car running!

When I was in my mid 20ies, living in Austria, my friend had a small garage. He used to repair Oldtimers. One of his jobs was to restore a Renault Alpine, which belonged to a famous Austrian Rally film maker. The car was in the same color as shown above, which was kind of the only color available on this car anyway. I was tasked to work on the electrics, which was easy due to the simplicity of 60's engineering.

The car had a fiberglass body. It was so light that two people could carry it -- I was one of them

It was pretty hard to get in and out of the car if you are taller than 160cm, but once inside it fits like a glove. The car only weighs 700 kg, so the 125 HP from the 1600 cc Renault engine provided plenty of thrust.

I had the pleasure to borrow the car for a weekend in return for my service. We took it out on windy B roads outside the city. What a great ride! So responsive and agile. And the noise was awesome too; there was only a small panel of wood separating your ears from the engine behind you.

Lancia Stratos. What a gorgeous rally machine! And HPI's implementation is extremely well done, including the decals. Looks almost like the real car. Wonderful

The tires are Spice 5-spoke in yellow (60D size) - just like the 1:1 had. For now I mounted Tamiya 60D rally tires because I had a set at home, not sure if I keep those on the long-run.

The back is made from three Lexan parts and requires a lot of patience with trimming and fitting. The body is also the most flimsiest amongst all bodies so far. Especially the front where the wheel are, because there are no sidewalls. Not for bashing, but a feast for the eyes (well, mine anyway )

This body does not fit on the M-05/06 because the front is too low and interferes with the shocks. The Cup Racer has to be built with lay-down shocks to fit the body.

Yesterday and today I had in total about one hour to drive the Cup Racer in the amphitheater of our local park. Concrete surface, very dusty therefore slippery, not very large. quite a few bumps at the edges of the concrete slabs.

I am extremely impressed how the chassis behaves. Way nicer than the M-06.

On the bad side, the current silver-can is not the right motor for this car. Gearing is too high, so the motor gets very hot, does not accelerate well, and does not reach top speed. This car needs a more powerful motor like the Tamiya dirt-tuned motor (which is also 27T, similar RPM to the silver-can, but 50% more torque).

The steering is fantastic. No negative expo needed like with all Tamiya cars I have. It is extremely precise and responsive. The car simply goes where you want it to go. So smooth!

The suspension is great too. The car tracks nice and handles the bumps well. No bouncing around.

The chassis is designed 4WD but I am using rear-wheel-drive only, which is naturally not ideal. The car doesn't have understeer but oversteers easily when power is applied to quickly, or when you brake into a corner. Very realistic 2WD behaviour, but you easily spin out. The M-06 is certainly easier to drive fast through tight corners.Yesterday I used Tamiya super-slicks, today the Rally tires. The slicks had more grip, but once the rear went it immediately spun. The rally tires gave way earlier, making it a bit easier to catch an oversteer. Not easy at all for a poor driver like me, but fun and challenging.

I am really impressed with this kit. Well worth the money. I am already considering buying a 2nd one, building it 4WD with a body I don't care about for bashing...